Is this song a good choice?

The first thing to think about is whether the song will be a good fit for your choir. Some solo songs don’t translate to choir as well.

If the entire song is made up of very loose rhythms and lots of vocal riffing, it would be hard for the choir to stay together. An example of a song like this is “I Need You Now” by Smokie Norful. It probably wouldn’t work that well for choir. But if it’s only a few portions of the song that are like that you can have a lead singer do those portions and bring in the choir on other parts of the song.

If the tune makes big jumps from high notes to low notes (in my opinion, any jump that is an interval of a 5th or larger), it can be hard for people to find their harmonies. But again, if it’s only sections of the song that have those kind of jumps, then you could do those parts in unison and do the other portions of the song in harmony.

Doing the arrangement

But if you’ve got a song that you think will adapt well for a choir, here’s a basic approach for doing your arrangement:

Decide which section is going to sing the melody, the main tune.

The most common way that gospel songs are harmonized is that the sopranos sing the melody and the altos and tenors harmonize underneath the sopranos. But sometimes it’s done differently. You can decide which section is going to sound best carrying the main melody for your particular song.

Decide what parts will be in unison, what parts will be in harmony, and what parts will be done by a lead singer.

This is the place to let your judgment and your musical ear guide you. Here are some guidelines, but you might decide to break any or all of these rules.

Passages that have a very loose rhythm are better if you have just one person sing that part.

Passages where the melody has big jumps from high notes to low notes are better if they’re done in unison (however, if you have a very skilled choir, doing those passages in harmony can be very exciting).

Singing in unison can also be good sometimes if there is a particular line where you want to get the audience’s attention and put extra focus on a particular part of the lyrics.

Going from a unison part into a harmony part can give a feeling of excitement, motion, and power.

Figure out what the notes should be for the harmonies.

This is something that takes experience. For this you need to understand the chord progressions that are associated with the song.

If you have been singing in choirs for a long time, you might be able to hear automatically what the harmony notes should be.

If you don’t have that kind of experience, you can look at the chords that the musicians are playing to help you figure things out (if you don’t play an instrument yourself, working together with a musician could be very helpful). The singers who have the melody will be covering one note in the chord, and the other parts would fill out the rest of the notes to make the chord.

Take notes on what you’ve done.

You want to be able to remember how your arrangement goes so that you can teach it without stumbling. There are a few different ways that you can make a copy of your arrangement:

If your read music, you can make a sheet music version.

If you’re familiar with scales and scale tones, you can make a copy of the words to the song and write the scale tones that each part sings right above the words. (Here’s an example of the kinds of papers I make for myself to teach from, using scale tones. — SAMPLE TEACHING PAPER. It’s for the song “I Will Bless the Lord” by Hezekiah Walker).

Or you can make a recording of yourself singing each part (just like ChoirParts.com does!) and use those as a reference when you’re teaching.

If any of you have more tips about how to adapt solo gospel songs into choir songs, I hope you will share. Leave a comment!

Lead singer required? There is a lead part, but one choir I direct just has everyone sing the lead verse together in unison.

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Calvary

by Richard Smallwood

http://choirparts.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Calvary.mp3“Surely
He died on Calvary”A powerful song, using a blues feel to convey the intensity of the crucifixion. And the interplay between the lead singer and the choir is very nice. This song is also great for Good Friday.It’s a challenging song, though. If you plan to sing this one for Easter or Good Friday, start rehearsing it well in advance.Tempo: Slow, but with a strong beat
Key: Starts in G minor, then moves to A minor, then Bb minor

Help your choir learn the parts for Calvary! Practice tracks for the individual parts (Soprano, Alto, 1st Tenor and 2nd Tenor) are available from ChoirParts.com —Soprano, Alto, and Tenor parts for Calvary.Difficulty level:

For singers: 4/5

For musicians: 3/5

Lead singer required? Yes

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Celebrate (He Lives)

by Fred Hammond

http://choirparts.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Celebrate-He-Lives.mp3“He lives, He lives,
Christ has risen just like He said
The Lord and Savior’s no longer dead”This is written as a solo song, but I think it works great with a small choir. I taught it to my own choir for Easter one year. We sang the lead verses with the whole choir in unison and they sounded great. It takes some practice to get everybody to do the rhythm together precisely, but it was worth it.Tempo: Moderately slow, but with a strong beat
Key: AmResource links:

Downloadable instrumental version of Celebrate. This one is not really intended to be an accompaniment track, so if you use it that way the singers will have some competition from a saxophone playing the melody.

Difficulty level:

For singers: 3 / 5

For musicians: 3 / 5

Lead singer required? It depends on how you do it.

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Christ Did It All

by Hezekiah Walker

This is the version of “Christ Did It All” that they did on their second album. The version on their Morehouse College album is better known, but this one is slower and has more lyrics, lyrics that specifically talk about the crucifixion and the resurrection.

He Got Up

by Edwin Hawkins

“Death, where is your sting?
Sting, where is your grave?
Grave, where is your victory?”This is a short one, but it could be good for praise & worship time on Easter Sunday, for a less-experienced choir (done in unison, perhaps), or as a prelude before a longer song.Tempo: Fast
Key: EbDifficulty level:

For singers: 3/5

For musicians: 2/5

Lead singer required? No

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He’s Alive

by Michael Mindingall

“He’s alive, Jesus is alive . . .

How, you say, I know He’s still alive?
He hung His head, then bled and died
But He rose on the third day, and old death just couldn’t keep Him in the grave
Yes, He rose with all power in His hands”

A powerful a cappella number. Start rehearsing this one early if you’re going to sing it.

The album that this song is featured on, Michael Mindingall’s Communion, is out of print, but you can sometimes get it from third parties at Amazon. Last time I checked, they were asking $40.00 for it.

Tempo: Moderate
Key: Gm (at least that’s the way it sounds on the YouTube video)

Jesus Lives in Me

written by John P. Kee

“Yes, yes,
I’ve been truly blessed
Jesus lives in me”I love this upbeat optimistic song for Easter. And the interplay between the lead and the choir is fun. One of John P. Kee’s best pieces of writing.Tempo: Fast
Key: In the video below, it’s sounding in D. I don’t have the album any more, so I can’t confirm whether that’s the correct key.Difficulty level:

For singers: 3/5

For musicians: 3/5

Lead singer required? Yes

This song was done on an Edwin Hawkins workshop album, but Kee does the lead and is the driving force on the song.

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Just for Me (James Moore)

by James Moore

http://choirparts.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Just-for-Me-James-Moore.mp3They crucified my Savior
Crucified my Savior
One day on Calvary
They laid Him in the cold ground
Death could not hold Him down
He did it just for meThis song was written by someone I know personally!Bishop John Morris from Los Angeles. I grew up singing it, but I hadn’t included it on this page before because I thought it couldn’t be found anywhere. The John Morris version isn’t available any more.But when a commenter (thank you, Reginald Wright!) asked about the song, I did some more research, and it turns out that it was also done on an album by Rev. James Moore. They changed a few words on the chorus — they say “one day on Calvary” instead of “on lonesome Calvary” the way Bishop Morris does it — but it’s the same song.So glad to be able to include this one!

Lead singer required? Not necessarily. On the recording, they have a spoken word lead. Note: If you do it without a lead, your choir will need to REALLY know where they’re going and what comes next on each section.

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(There Is) No Greater Love

by James Cleveland

“Jesus went
To Calvary
To save a wretch
Like you and me
That’s love, that’s love”

An Easter classic. Every choir should know this song.

Make sure you include the added chorus at the end (it’s not on the original recording, but everyone loves it) — “But that’s not how, the story ends, three days later, He rose again, that’s love, that’s love”.

Tempo: Slow
Key: In this video, it’s coming out in the key of B, but the other references I see to it are in Bb.

Precious Is the Blood

by Joe Pace

http://choirparts.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Precious-Is-the-Blood.mp3“Oh, Lamb of God, crucified
For my sins He bled and died
And oh, how precious is the blood”A very simple but lovely melody that encourages singing along (if you really want the congregation to sing along, though, you would need to make the lyrics available to them). It starts in unison and builds by doing key changes and adding harmonies.Tempo: Slow
Key: Db, then D, Eb, E, F.Links: